In light of a newly released Washington-state budget projection that shows a $2.6 billion shortfall, the main message that UW student-lobbyists will take with them to the upcoming legislative session in Olympia has become clear: No new cuts.

Both the ASUW and the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) finalized their legislative agendas this past week, which will serve as their lobbyists’ guideline for the 2010 legislative session beginning in January. The documents can address a number of advocacy issues from the cost of education to sustainability.

The lobbyists and others involved in the drafting of the legislative agendas have conceded that the issue of state funding will likely be at the forefront of the debate.

“We want, more than anything, to make sure that college is affordable,” said Eric Shellan, assistant director of the Office of Government Relations and member of the ASUW legislative steering committee. “We want to make sure that there are no more budget cuts. We understand that we may have to give in a little bit because there is a big deficit, but we want to do everything we can to maintain where we’re at.”

The preamble of the GPSS 2010 session legislative agenda states that, “Unfortunately, the University of Washington received a 26-percent cut to its operating budget for the 2009-2011 biennium. This significant decrease in state funding will impede the graduate school’s ability to attract top students, engage in cutting-edge research, and remain competitive in the global economy.”

The 26-percent decrease in state funding for the UW last year was greater than that of the decrease in funding for community and technical colleges, said Sarah Reyneveld, vice president and lobbyist for GPSS.

UW lobbyists plan to use this disproportionate cut as one of the talking points for no additional cuts to the university.

Aside from the projected $2.6 billion shortfall, a second set of projections which will be released mid-February are likely to reveal another estimated $1 billion in deficit, said Jono Hanks, director of the Office of Government Relations and ASUW lobbyist. This may culminate in a collective shortfall of $3 billion to 3.5 billion, he said.

Legislators are looking to cut as much discretionary spending as they can, which means cuts in higher-education funding, Hanks said.

“Last year, they cut higher education to the core,” Hanks said. “We’ve gotten to the point where we’re cutting necessary services to students, and if we cut more, we won’t be able to maintain our educational quality.”

One such service that was downsized this past year due to budget cuts was the availability of writing centers.

Five out of 17 departmental writing centers have been closed, including those of the English, business and women’s studies departments, according to the UW Writing Centers and Resources Web site and various departmental Web sites and offices.

Time constraint may present an added challenge for UW student-lobbyists. Washington state operates on a biennial basis in which a new budget is created every other year, while slight amendments to the budget are made during the years in between. The previous legislative session occurred during a regular budget year and was thus allotted 105 days. The upcoming session, occurring during a supplemental year, will be allotted only 60 days.

However, due to the dismal state-budget projections, the budget will play a significant role in the shorter session.

“The legislature and the governor are going to have to consider what they’re going to cut in a very short period of time,” Reyneveld said. “It’s just because of the dire state of the economy and the deficit that they even have to think about it [during a supplemental year]. That’s why it’s going to be like the perfect storm.”

Despite the expected difficulty for UW lobbyists to safeguard state funding this year, Hanks remains hopeful for the outcome of the session.

“It’ll be a hard fight,” he said. “But I think … we’ll be able to keep the main things that are important to students, [such as] academic quality and the reputation of the university, intact. It won’t be easy, but I think we will be able to.”

Reach contributing writer Joanna Nolasco at development@dailyuw.com.